


The House in Shiganshima

by captainkaltar



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Family, Fluff, Foreshadowing, Friendship, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Kid Fic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Recovery, Shiganshina Trio
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 06:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6272923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainkaltar/pseuds/captainkaltar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikasa may have lost everything she knew, but in the process, she found Eren. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>A collection of moments from the year Mikasa spends with the Jaegers in Shiganshima, starting when she first arrives there. Every chapter features a snapshot from a different month of that year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The House in Shiganshima

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kate7h](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate7h/gifts).



> This is my contribution to a little art trade I did with the wonderful @kate7h. Take a look at the killer fanart she drew for me! 
> 
> http://shingekitkat.tumblr.com/post/140669523397/for-captainkaltar-thanks-for-the-request-i

It could be any house in any town or village inside the walls. Plain, compact, a little worn around the edges, anything but unique. But there’s something about it that makes Mikasa instantly feel like she could live here, even though it’s in a bustling wall district, far from the cottage on the mountainside that she’ll never see again, far from the life that she’ll never see again. 

 

She’s sat down at the kitchen table, given a slice of buttery oven-fresh bread and a bowl of soup, talked to by new people with new faces. It’s warm in here, it’s far from the mountains, it’s far from _them_ , but _they_ still claw and stab at her memory and she can’t speak. _Be quiet, be silent, stay still_. 

 

She’s not ready to speak yet, but she can listen. She learns the names- she knew “Eren” already, but there’s also “Grisha” (he says she doesn’t need to call him “Doctor Jaeger” anymore), “Carla”, “Shiganshima”. She learns that Grisha knew her parents before _they_ came, that he and Carla will take care of her for now, since she has nowhere else. 

 

“She really doesn’t have anywhere to go?” Carla asks. “No extended family, no close friends?”

 

“None that I know of who’ll take her in,” Grisha answers, his words making the air heavy and thick and nervous. 

 

“She’ll stay with us for tonight at least, it’s getting late. But what about after that, can we afford to feed and house another person?”

 

“We’re better off than a good portion of the people in this town, darling, and we have an extra bed that could be hers.” 

 

“Eren, why don’t you go show Mikasa around the house?” Carla gives her son a _please-leave-we-need-to-talk-in-private_ sort of look, interrupting the uncertain silence. 

 

“There’s nothing to see upstairs, she won’t be interested.”

 

“Then take her outside, _please_ , go play outside.” 

 

“Okay fine, c’mon Mikasa!” Eren grabs her arm and pulls her from her chair, she barely has time to grab her half-eaten piece of bread before they’re running out the door, down the streets, around a corner, up an alley, running, running, running. 

 

“Be back before it gets dark!” Carla’s call is picked up by the breeze and carried off into nothingness. Mikasa has no idea whether Eren heard her or not, he shows no sign of listening, he’s only focused on wherever he’s trying to take her. 

 

“Where are we going?” The buildings are moving too fast for her to notice them, she’ll never find her way back to the house on her own at this rate. 

 

“My favourite place in town!” 

 

“Why are we running?” 

 

“Why not?” 

 

“I’m tired!”

 

“Keep going, we’re almost there!” Sure enough, they round a corner, speed across a little square, dash past a block of tall stone buildings, and oh, she’s never seen so much water in one place, not even in the creek back in the mountains during the spring runoff… 

 

This river makes her own creek look like a small puddle in comparison: her creek doesn’t have stone bridges arching over it, wide enough to hold a two-horse carriage. And this river is so big you could lay five of her creek side by side and they wouldn’t make it to the other bank. 

 

“Look over here, Mikasa!” Eren guides her to a little stone pier jutting out into the river. “This is my favourite place! Did you know that this river runs through Shiganshima from the middle of Wall Sina, and leads outside the walls? Pretty neat, don’t you think?” 

 

She has to think about that for a moment. “If it’s that big, doesn’t it span half of out land? Half of humanity’s land?”

 

“I guess it does.” Eren sits down with his legs dangling over the edge of the pier. 

 

She looks around, up and down the long ribbon of water, taking in the bridges, the stone banks, the reflected evening light dancing across the surface. It’s too big for her, she has to sit down, she edges close to Eren and hangs her legs over the water in the same position as him.  They sit without saying anything for a while, she doesn’t know how long. It seems strange for Eren to be quiet. 

 

_Be quiet, be silent, stay still_. But Eren is never still: even now as he’s sitting down, he’s kicking his legs against the stone of the riverbank. 

 

“One day I’m going to follow the river” he pipes up. 

 

“Where, to Wall Sina?”

 

“No, in the other direction. Outside the walls. I’m going to go exploring.”

 

“But there are Titans out there! It’s dangerous!”

 

He looks her dead in the eyes, his expression serious. “It’s just as dangerous inside the walls, Mikasa. You saw those men back in the mountains, you saw what they did.” 

 

His words bring it all back, dark, cold images flash before her eyes, blocking out the river and the evening sun. It’s cold again, she needs to be quiet again, they’re going to get her, there’s blood everywhere, blood everywhere-

 

“Are you okay?” Eren’s voice cuts through her thoughts like a knife. Like the knife he used to cut her captors and cut the ropes tying her hands. “You’re shaking.”

 

“It’s getting dark…”

 

“You’ll be alright here, you know.” He lands an arm around her shoulder, he’s all warm, he’s all safe. “Maybe we should go home.”

 

“Your mum said to be home before dark.”

 

“She did? I didn’t hear her.”

 

“You were running away when she said that.”

 

“Oooh, Mikasa,let’s run back home! Come on!” He jumps up and dashes back the way they came, she has to get up quickly to catch him. But he’s getting tired, it’s easier for her to keep up with him now, she isn’t even short of breath. Eren takes a different route home, through different streets. 

 

“Eren, where are we? I’m lost.”

 

“Oh, don’t worry, we’re really close to home! Look, you see this corner?” He goes on without waiting for her to respond. “We’ll turn the corner and my house will be there, like it always is. Come on!” And he’s off again, feet pounding the cobbled street, his energy regained, running like he’s a little storm of energy, never still. She’s only known Eren for a day and she’s already found that he can never stay still even when he’s sitting down, he’s all fire and whirlwind and torrent. And she’s pulled along by that torrent, her legs struggling to keep up with him until they turn the corner and sure enough, there it is. 

 

She sees the house, the only familiar place in all Shiganshima, and suddenly she’s the current sweeping Eren along in her wake, she can run, oh she can run, Eren’s hand slips out of her grasp and she keeps running, she can’t stop, she’s going so fast. 

 

“Hey, Mikasa! Wait! Wait for me!” But she can’t wait, Eren will have to catch her if he can. She slams into the door, pushing it open and lurching inside, breathing hard. Eren follows her a few seconds later, red in the face and eyes widened with disbelief. 

 

“Wow, you sure can run! Mikasa, that was awesome! We should challenge the other kids to a race and you’ll beat them all! Even the biggest and fastest guys from that family down the block’ll get left in the dust!” Somehow he still has enough air in his lungs to fill the house with his voice, but she’s silenced again, her voice and her breath lost somewhere on the road. 

 

“Eren, how many times have I told you not to shout like that inside the house?” Grisha’s tone is stern and loving all at once as he looks up from the book he’s reading. “If you can stay quiet for one minute, we’ve got some news for you and Mikasa. Carla?” He gets up from the table and extends a hand to his wife, who takes it with a slight smile. 

 

“Mikasa, we’ve decided that you can live with us. What do you think?”

 

She’s still finding it hard to talk, but she could sing right now if only her breath would come back. Here, where the house is warm and the river whispers adventure stories and _they_ are far, far away. Here, where it’s safe. Here, where Eren lives. 

 

Later, when she finds her words, she can say thank you and refer to this place as her home. But it doesn’t take words to hold Eren’s hand and squeeze it tight. It doesn’t take words to look up at Carla and give her a little nod of approval. 

 

“She likes it here, mum,” Eren understands her. “She’s staying with me, she’s not going anywhere.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to my tumblr friend (and also my best friend) doctor-holmes for being my beta reader, and to the magnificent @traineecorps for coming up with headcanons and ideas with me! The "one chapter per month" idea is her doing.


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